"rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty. Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman wrote together in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved Cleese doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods before suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a new level. A classic example of this is the ""Dead Parrot sketch"", envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and"
"play the role of John Cleese in ""Holy Flying Circus"", a 90-minute dramatisation of the controversy that arose when Monty Python's ""Life of Brian"" was released in 1979. ""Holy Flying Circus"" was nominated for a ""BAFTA"" for Best Single Drama. From 2011-2013, Boyd starred in the Sky 1 series ""Spy"" which won him a BAFTA for his performance. He's also starred in two ITV dramas, ""Case Sensitive"", a series adapted from Sophie Hannah's novel ""Point of Rescue"" alongside Olivia Williams and three-part drama ""The Guilty"". In 2014, Boyd was reunited with his ""Watching Ellie"" costar Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a guest"
"sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"", with Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in ""A Fish Called Wanda"" and ""Fierce Creatures"", both of which he also wrote. He also starred in ""Clockwise"" and has appeared in many other films, including two ""James Bond"" films as R and Q, two ""Harry Potter"" films, and the last three ""Shrek"" films. With ""Yes Minister"" writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded ""The Secret Policeman's Ball"" benefit shows"
"Academy Award, ""The Italian Job"" (1969), and ""Battle of Britain"" (1969). His roles in the 1970s included ""Get Carter"" (1971), ""The"" ""Last"" ""Valley"" (1971), ""Sleuth"" (1972), for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, ""The Man Who Would Be King"" (1975), and ""A Bridge Too Far"" (1977). He achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with ""Educating Rita"" (1983), earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1986, he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allen's ""Hannah and Her Sisters"". Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in"
"John Cleese John Marwood Cleese (; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, voice actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on ""The Frost Report"". In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show ""Monty Python's Flying Circus"" and the four Monty Python films: ""And Now for Something Completely Different"", ""Monty Python and the Holy Grail"", ""Life of Brian"" and ""The Meaning of Life"". In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British"
"in the television film ""Sybil"". In 1981, he played American track star Jackson Scholz in the Academy Award-winning film ""Chariots of Fire"". He played the lead role in Larry Kramer's play about AIDS, ""The Normal Heart"" (1985). His most successful film role was as the main character, Billy Hayes, in ""Midnight Express"" (1978), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Acting Debut – Actor. He was also nominated for a similar award at that year's BAFTA Awards, in addition to receiving Best"
"for a BAFTA for her role as Hazel Wiles. The drama was directed by Anthony Simmons. The film was based on Marjorie Wallace and Michael Robson's book of the same name published in 1976. Terry Wiles had never acted before and, as he was then 17, his voice had to be dubbed by a child actor after filming as it had broken and he had to appear to be much younger, playing himself from age 9 to 12. The drama went on to win an Emmy in 1980. Following the film's broadcast in the United States in 1980 Wiles was"
"for the latter. He played Caligula in the BBC TV series ""I, Claudius"" (1976). Hurt's performance in the prison drama ""Midnight Express"" (1978) brought him international renown and earned Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, along with an Academy Award nomination. His BAFTA-nominated portrayal of astronaut Kane, in science-fiction horror ""Alien"" (1979), yielded a scene which has been named by several publications as one of the most memorable in cinematic history. Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as Joseph Merrick in David Lynch's biopic ""The Elephant Man"" (1980). Other significant roles during"
"film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special ""Peter Cook and Co."" in 1980. In the same year, Cleese played Petruchio, in Shakespeare's ""The Taming of the Shrew"" in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he starred with Sean Connery and Michael Palin in the Terry Gilliam-directed ""Time Bandits"" as Robin Hood. He also participated in ""Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl"" (1982) and starred in ""The Secret Policeman's Ball"" for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as a sheriff in ""Silverado"", which had an all-star cast that included"
"consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series. In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on ""The Muppet Show"". Cleese was a fan of the show and co-wrote much of the episode. Cleese also made a cameo appearance in their 1981 film ""The Great Muppet Caper"". Cleese won the ""TV Times"" award for Funniest Man on TV – 1978–79. In 1979, Cleese starred in a TV special, ""To Norway - Home of Giants,"" produced by Johnny Bergh. During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on"
"The film won a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for four other BAFTAs, including Best Direction for Scorsese and Best Actor for De Niro. The film was generally praised by critics but did not perform well in the United States. Scorsese suggested the film ""...maybe wasn't so well received because it gave off an aura of something that people didn't want to look at or know."" De Niro and Scorsese collaborated again in 1990 on ""Goodfellas"", which also starred Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. The film follows Henry Hill (Liotta) as he and his friends work their"
"Film Award for Best Actress. Other films included performing the voice of Aughra in ""The Dark Crystal"", as the hopelessly naive Mrs. Hall in ""Maurice"" (1987), one of two sisters, with Joan Plowright, struggling to survive in war-time Liverpool in ""The Dressmaker"" (1988), the fiercely domineering and protective mother of psychopathic twin murderers in ""The Krays"" (1990), a performance that earned her a BAFTA nomination, as the nurse Grace Poole in ""Jane Eyre"" (1996), and the blind laundress in ""Quills"" (2000). She returned to film, in a comedy turn, as Joyce Cooper in ""Hot Fuzz"" (2007). In 1970, she was"
"""Follow the Yellow Brick Road"" (1972), ""Brimstone and Treacle"", (1976) and ""Blade on the Feather"" (1980). He starred in the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens's short story ""The Signalman"" (1976). In the 1980s he won three consecutive British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards—Best Supporting Actor for ""Trading Places"" as Dan Aykroyd's kindly butler, ""A Private Function"", and ""Defence of the Realm""—as well as an Academy Award nomination for ""A Room with a View"". He also became familiar to a wider audience as the well-meaning but addlepated Dr. Marcus Brody in ""Raiders of the Lost Ark"" (1981) and"
"married his co-star, Jill Browne, but they later divorced. After an uncredited role in ""Cleopatra"" (1963), and appearing in British films such as ""The System"" (1964), ""Assignment K"" (1968), ""Duffy"" (1968) and ""Hannibal Brooks"" (1969), he played the lead in the comedy series ""Please Sir!"", as hapless teacher Mr Hedges, which later resulted in him also playing the character in the 1971 feature film of the same name. In 1972 he appeared with Hannah Gordon in the BBC comedy series ""My Wife Next Door"" which ran for 13 episodes, and for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1975. He"
"Richard Vernon, Joan Sanderson, Roger Sloman and David Griffin. John Cleese makes a cameo appearance in the episode ""Golden Gordon"". The series was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1978 for 'Best Film Cameraman' (Peter Hall) and won in 1980 for 'Best Light Entertainment Programme/Series'. Although not as well received as John Cleese's ""Fawlty Towers"", ""Ripping Yarns"" has developed a cult status since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The scripts were published in book form, with sepia-tinted stills, as ""Ripping Yarns"" (1978; ) and ""More Ripping Yarns"" (1980; ), and later collected in an omnibus volume, ""The Complete Ripping"
"roles included ""Jabberwocky"" (1977), ""Unidentified Flying Oddball"" (1979) and ""The Wildcats of St Trinian's"" (1980). Although better known for his comedy and light entertainment roles, viewers were given an opportunity to see Bewes' serious acting ability in a made-for-TV film adaptation of John Ford's 17th century play, ""'Tis Pity She's a Whore"" (1980). Despite a guest role in the ""Doctor Who"" serial ""Resurrection of the Daleks"" in 1984, his television career had largely ended by the mid-1980s. On the West End stage, Bewes appeared in the play ""Middle-Age Spread"" and ""Funny Money"", a farce by Ray Cooney. During 1982, he"
"Pythonesque (play) Pythonesque is a Monty Python-related play by the British playwright Roy Smiles. It is based on Graham Chapman's battle with alcohol and his death from cancer. It continues with his rise in comedy and his getting the lead in ""Monty Python And The Holy Grail"" (1975) and ""Monty Python's Life Of Brian"" (1979). It was first performed in South Africa in 2008 and made its British debut at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it starred Matt Addis as Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, James Lance as Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Mark Oosterveen as John Cleese, and Chris"
"""The Fifth Musketeer"" (1979) starring Beau and was in ""Disaster on the Coastliner"" (1979), ""Bear Island"" (1979) and ""This Year's Blonde"" (1980) (as Johnny Hyde) Bridges had his biggest film hit in a long time in ""Airplane!"" (1980), a spoof of disaster films. He appeared in a number of mini series such as ""East of Eden"" (1981), ""The Blue and the Gray"" (1982) and ""George Washington"" (1984). He guest starred on shows such as ""The Love Boat"" (1981), ""Loving"" (1983), and ""Matt Houston"" (1983) and continued to make TV movies like """" (1982), ""Grace Kelly"" (1983) and ""Grandpa, Will You"
"as visionary despite the fact that no one actually understands what he is really saying. Many questions surround his mysterious origins, and filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. The novel was made into a 1979 movie directed by Hal Ashby, and starring Peter Sellers, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, and Melvyn Douglas, who won the award for Best Supporting Actor. The screenplay was co-authored by award-winning screenwriter Robert C. Jones with Kosiński. The film won the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Film) Best Screenplay Award, as well as the"
"up to 85 productions a year. Upon leaving the post, he became a freelance television director, and continued to work steadily for 20 years. Highlights of this period include the World War II miniseries ""Fortunes of War"" (1987) starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, and the award-winning television film ""Harnessing Peacocks"" (1993). Cellan Jones was Chairman of BAFTA from 1983–1985. He has also been Chairman and Honorary President of the Directors Guild of Great Britain. For the miniseries ""Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill"" (1974), Cellan Jones won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series, and was"
"Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the British comedy ""A Fish Called Wanda"", in which he played a painfully inept American ex-CIA thug opposite John Cleese's genteel British barrister and Jamie Lee Curtis' femme fatale/con woman. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film twenty-first on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs. Other awards have included Drama Desk Awards, Golden Globe awards, a Gotham Award, a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award, and a St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2003."
"film before her murder, ""The Thirteen Chairs"" (1969), and Tobias Cromwell in ""Flight of the Doves"" (1971), as well as appearing in sex comedies such as ""Keep It Up Downstairs"" (1976), ""Adventures of a Private Eye"" (1977) and ""Adventures of a Plumber's Mate"" (1978). His final film appearance was as Big Teddy in ""Consuming Passions"" in 1988. As a TV actor in the 1970s he appeared in episodes of popular programmes as different as ""The Persuaders!"", ""Colditz"" (episode: ""The Guests"" – Major Trumpington in a kilt) and ""Up Pompeii!"" as the narrator Plautus. He was Dr Watson to John Cleese's"
"Eye"" (1977), ""Home Before Midnight"" (1979) and ""S.O.S. Titanic"" (1979). His stage work included playing at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh in 1966 and a leading role in the West End production of Alan Bennett's ""40 Years On"". He is best known for his role as John in the 1970s science fiction television series ""The Tomorrow People"", in which he starred in all eight seasons. Other TV credits include featured/leading roles in: ""Upstairs, Downstairs"", ""Tartuffe (BBC drama)"", ""Crown Court (TV series)"", """", ""Blood Money"", ""Kessler"". and ""Cymbeline (BBC Shakespeare series)"". He also made many appearances in ""Beadle's About"" taking various roles"
"1978 and 1980. He directed ""The Ploughman's Lunch"" (written by Ian McEwan) in 1983, which won the Evening Standard Award for Best Film, ""Iris"", a biographical film of writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch (starring Judi Dench, Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent), and ""Stage Beauty"". Broadbent won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ""Iris"", and Dench and Winslet were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. He returned to the BBC in 1988 to direct the Falklands War story ""Tumbledown"" (starring Colin Firth), which won him the BAFTA Award for Best Director and the"
"1977), ""L'arma"" (Squitieri, 1978), ""Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?"" (Kotcheff, 1978), ""Child of the Night"" (Gobbi, 1978) ""Corleone"" (Squitieri, 1978), ""Hypochondriac"" (Cervi, 1979), ""The Terrace"" (""La terrazza"", Scola, 1980) and ""One Hundred Days in Palermo"" (""Cento giorni a Palermo"", Tornatore, 1984), playing a variety of roles in more than 60 films, His role as the smuggler and rakish hero Han Solo in the original ""Star Wars"" trilogy was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in Italian voice acting. He also used his voice talents in ""Alien"", as the fearless Captain Dallas, as well as in"
"western ""Five Savage Men"". Returning to the United States in the mid-1970s, he co-starred with Frank Sinatra in ""Contract on Cherry Street"" (1977) and Charles Bronson in ""Love and Bullets"" (1979). He then signed on as the evil adversary Killer Kane in ""Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"" (1979). In the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared as the arrogant hunter Colonel Brock in ""Alligator"" (1980), a drug-addicted hitman in Burt Reynolds' ""Sharky's Machine"" (1981), a former prison warden-turned-enforcer in ""Escape from the Bronx"" (1983), which was lampooned on ""Mystery Science Theater 3000"", a comedy gangster in ""Cannonball Run II"" (1984)"
"his theater career, ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Hildegarde Neil was Cleopatra and English actor Eric Porter was Ahenobarbus. After receiving scathing reviews, the film was never released to theaters, and is rarely seen on television. It was finally released on DVD in March 2011. His next film, ""Skyjacked"" (1972) was a hit. However ""The Call of the Wild"" (1972) was a flop, one of Heston's least favorite films. He quickly recovered with a string of hits: ""Soylent Green"" (1973), another science fiction story; ""The Three Musketeers"" (1973), playing Cardinal Richelieu in an all-star cast; ""Earthquake"" (1974), a disaster film; ""Airport 1975"""
"about one of her relatives who was a painter leading a hippie life on a barge. At fifty-six, his contribution as one of five camera operators on the landmark rock concert documentary ""Woodstock"" (1970) brought an Oscar and established his reputation as a filmmaker in the rock music industry. That achievement was followed by his cinematography on ""Johnny Cash in San Quentin"" (1969), ""Elvis on Tour"" (1972), ""Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen"" (1971), ""Soul to Soul"" (1971), ""Wattstax"" (1973), ""Let the Good Times Roll"" (1973), ""Save the Children"" (1973), ""The Grateful Dead"" (1977), Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz (1978),"
"such as ""Fame"", ""The Paper Chase"", ""Knots Landing"", ""Hill Street Blues"", ""Magnum, P.I."", ""Murder, She Wrote"", ""Trapper John, M.D."", ""L.A. Law"", and ""A Year in the Life"", among others; and several episodes of the ""ABC Afterschool Special"" series. The latter won him two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Direction in 1979 and 1981. He received additional Emmy Award nominations for an episode of ""Hill Street Blues"", the 1982 all-star variety special ""I Love Liberty"", and as host of the PBS series ""Actors on Acting."" He also has won the Writers Guild of America Award for his contribution to ""I"
"1978 he is cast as an extra of a dancing role in the musical adaption film ""Grease"" starring actor John Travolta and singer/actress Olivia Newton-John. That same year he is cast as an extra in a dancing role in the musical comedy film adaption of ""Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band"" one in the same as The Beatles album (1978). His next role as an actor was in the 1979 period comedy film ""1941"" as Babyface directed by Steven Spielberg featuring the ensemble cast of Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, John Candy, Chrisopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune and Robert Stack."
"episodes. Young moved towards black comedy in the early 1990s, directing ""Jeeves and Wooster"" based on the stories written by P.G. Wodehouse, and ""G.B.H."", for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award. It was partly on the strength of ""GBH"" that he was assigned to direct ""Fierce Creatures"", John Cleese's 1997 follow-up to ""A Fish Called Wanda"", which featured many of the same cast as ""GBH"". However, the production ran into problems and Fred Schepisi was brought in to finalise the movie. Young did, however, direct ""Splitting Heirs"", which starred Cleese and Eric Idle. Young has continued to work"
"(1973), ""Crime Club"" (1973), ""Running Wild"" (1973), ""Death Race"" (1973), ""The Whirlwind"" (1974, with son Beau), and ""Stowaway to the Moon"" (1975). Bridges starred in a short-lived Police Story spin-off ""Joe Forrester"" (1975–76). Bridges played significant roles in several mini-series, including ""Roots"", and ""How the West Was Won"". He returned to TV movies: ""The Force of Evil"" (1978), ""Telethon"" (1978), ""The Great Wallendas"" (1978) and ""The Critical List"" (1978). Bridges had a notable guest part in ""The Living Legend"" for ""Battlestar Galactica"" (1978) and went to Australia to make ""Shimmering Light"" (1978) with Beau. He had a support part in"
"such as ""Minder"" (1979); ""Shoestring"" (1979); ""Hammer House of Horror"" (1980) and ""The Chinese Detective"" (1981). In 1980, he played Jeff ""Fangio"" Bateman in ""Coronation Street"" and, in 1983, he was cast as Sergeant Jack Wilding in ""Woodentop "" (the Pilot of ITV police drama ""The Bill""). Film credits include: ""Up Pompeii"" (1971), ""Murder by Decree"" (1979), ""Sweet William"" (1980), ""The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu"" (1980), ""P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang"" (1982), and as a bouncer in ""The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle"" (1980). In 1984, at the invitation of producer Julia Smith, he was offered the role of Pete"